


Designated Driver

by Lady Divine (fhartz91)



Category: Glee
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Angst, Drinking, Drunkenness, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mention of Blaine/Klaine, Mention of sex, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-27
Updated: 2015-03-02
Packaged: 2018-03-15 13:26:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,550
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3448817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fhartz91/pseuds/Lady%20Divine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kurt is volunteering for Dial-A-Ride, a place that offers free rides for people too drunk to drive themselves, to fulfill a college elective requirement. One Friday night, he ends up driving Sebastian back to his college dorm. Once Sebastian finds out Kurt volunteers there, he calls every Friday night and requests him personally. But is Sebastian doing this just to make Kurt’s life miserable?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this for the Kurtbastian Hiatus Project prompt “college AU” and never uploaded it. Here it is. Warning for language, drinking, being drunk, talk about sex. Mention of Blaine/Klaine. Not Blaine friendly.

Kurt pulls up to the curb in front of _The High Life_ and leaves the engine running. When the call came in, he didn’t even need to wait for the address. There’s only one person who calls _Dial-A-Ride_ on Friday nights and requests him personally, and that person _only_ goes clubbing at _The High Life_ – probably because it’s as far from the NYU campus as you can possibly get without leaving the city.

Kurt sits and waits, sending a text from the _Dial-A-Ride_ cell phone to the man who called for him, but the bouncers at the door know Kurt’s white van by now, and they know who he’s there for.

 _That’s comforting_ , Kurt thinks with a heavy sigh.

Well, there _is_ something to be said for routine.

Kurt smiles tight-lipped when he sees Bryce (one of the more patient bouncers at the club) help a limping and stumbling Sebastian Smythe out to the van. Sebastian sees Kurt sitting impatiently behind the wheel and his face lights up. He smiles sloppily and waves with one arm, yelling at the top of his lungs, “Hi, Kurt!” as if Kurt can’t hear him easily through the open van window. Kurt gets out of the van, cursing once again the elective requirement for his fashion designing major that forced him into this position. It had been a choice between taking an extra (though entirely unnecessary) liberal arts class or volunteer one night a week at _Dial-A-Ride_.

Kurt made the wrong choice. He sees that. He should have taken Wood Working. By now he could have a beautiful, if slightly lopsided, mahogany end-table, and absolutely no weekly interaction with Sebastian Smythe.

Within the first three Fridays of working at _Dial-A-Ride_ , Kurt had been chosen at random (or so he thought) to go to a different club – _Off the Wagon_ \- to pick up Sebastian, and the insufferable man has been special requesting him ever since. In truth, Kurt should be pissed at _Carl_ , his shift manager, for humoring this whim of Sebastian’s. Kurt had made the mistake of complaining (at length) about Sebastian to some of the other volunteers in Carl’s presence, and Carl…well, Carl seems to enjoy Kurt’s pain.

It doesn’t matter. Kurt has reason enough to be miffed at Sebastian. After Sebastian realized he could have Kurt at his beck and call, he purposefully switched nightclubs. _Off the Wagon_ is a stone’s throw from NYU, where Sebastian attends school, so when Kurt picked him up from there, he only had to endure five minutes of Sebastian’s obnoxious banter. But by switching to _The High Life_ , Kurt has to suffer nearly forty-five minutes of incessant flirting and lewd remarks.

Kurt gets out of the vehicle and rounds to the curb side, waving at Bryce and ignoring Sebastian. He opens the rear passenger door and Sebastian smiles the way he always does - smug, even as he’s falling over himself, at the thought of Kurt playing chauffeur. Kurt has explained before that the child safety locks on the rear doors force him to open them from the outside, but Sebastian calls him Jeeves and chuckles like he just remembered the punchline of a hilarious joke.

“Hey, Bryce,” Kurt says, smiling as the muscular bouncer manhandles Sebastian into the van.

“Hey, Kurt,” Bryce says with a grunt as he tries to maneuver Sebastian’s boneless spaghetti limbs onto the seat without him tipping back out of the vehicle. “Rough night?”

“Nah,” Kurt replies, trying not to laugh when he hears Sebastian yell, _Ow! Watch it!_ “It’s been kind of slow. You?”

“Oh, you know,” Bryce says, holding Sebastian upright in the seat by the collar of his shirt, “the usual.”

Kurt smiles and takes over, ducking under Bryce’s arm and shoving Sebastian into a lying down position on the rear bench.

“What if he horks?” Bryce asks, remembering the last time Sebastian puked on the van floor. Kurt had told Bryce that no matter how hard they cleaned, the stench wouldn’t come out for weeks.

“We’ve got a new cleaning company,” Kurt assures him. “And with any luck, he’ll be my last run.”

Last run because this is Kurt’s last night at _Dial-A-Ride_.

 _Thank God this semester’s over,_ Kurt thinks with a mental cheer _._ No more _Dial-A-Ride_ means no more Sebastian, and Kurt can finally get his sanity back.

Carl’s supervisor Paul had asked Kurt if he might think about becoming a permanent volunteer. They only had the four volunteers so far, and of those, Kurt was the only guy. Kurt had smiled his warmest smile and promised that he would think about it, but in his head he said, _Not a chance!_

“Well, you take care of yourself,” Bryce says, smiling with his eyes as he turns back to the nightclub.

“I will,” Kurt calls after him, watching the huge man disappear into the dark club, leaving Kurt alone with a drunk Sebastian in the backseat of the van.

“Well, hello---“ Sebastian slurs, but Kurt cuts him off by slamming the van door hard, hoping it makes his inebriated head spin.

Kurt takes a moment to breathe in the night air, stretch his legs, and enjoy the relative _normalcy_ that exists outside of that stupid van. He watches the crowd gather at the nightclub door, listens to the distant _thump-thump-thump_ of the bass music from inside, looks up to gaze at the few stars he can see in the city, and steels himself for the ride ahead.

It strikes him, ironically, that he’s been to this club about a dozen times, if not more, and he’s never stepped inside. It actually looks like a place he’d like to go to if it was closer to home…and if he had someone to go with. Maybe he could get Rachel and Santana to…

A knock behind his head, from inside the van, derails his daydreaming.

“Kuuuuurt,” Sebastian calls through the tinted rear window. “Kurtie…Kurtie-kins…Kurt-sicle…” Sebastian’s voice dissolves into giggles as he falls back down on the seat.

Kurt groans, stomping over to the driver’s side and gets into the van.

 _Last night_ , he repeats in his head as he opens the door and slips into his seat. _This is my last night._

“This is absolutely the last time, Smythe,” Kurt says, slamming the driver’s side door as well.

“Awww, you…you always say that,” Sebastian drawls, voice high and child-like, giggling again as he scoots inch by inch down the bench to lie out completely.

“And I mean it,” Kurt says, jabbing the key into the ignition, trying to focus on what it will feel like to return the van keys for the last time.

“Awww, you don’t mean it,” Sebastian says, his voice muffled by his face pressed into the cold vinyl seat. “I know that…that deep, deep down…you like me.” Sebastian keeps giggling, like he can’t help himself, like he doesn’t believe what he’s saying.

“This time I do,” Kurt says to himself, putting the van into drive and pulling away from the curb. Kurt hears Sebastian shift in his seat, trying to sit up. He waits for the comments, the insults, the one-sided battle of wits to begin.

There’s a long, unexpected silence, followed by a soft snore, and Kurt relaxes. Not tonight. He gets a break from it for tonight.

What a perfect parting gift.

Kurt merges onto the highway, his mind beginning to wander, thinking about what an exhausting semester this has been.

_“Could you have picked a farther fucking club?” Kurt griped, turning the key in the ignition, sneering quietly when Sebastian laughed._

_“Well, I would have gone to Jersey, but you guys don’t service out there.”_

_Kurt rolled his eyes, knowing it wasn’t a joke, that Sebastian had probably considered it._

_“Hey…hey, Kurt,” Sebastian slurred. “This is a big van.”_

_“Yes, it is,” Kurt replied, blowing out a breath and merging onto the highway, curbing the urge to speed - to fly back to NYU - no matter how much he wants to be rid of Sebastian._

_“And this is a big backseat,” Sebastian continued, patting the bench seat with the flat of his hand, making a sharp slapping noise that seemed to amuse him so he did it again._

_Then he started beating out a rhythm and singing along off-key._

_“Yes, it is a big backseat,” Kurt murmured, deciding to be the bare-minimum of hospitable and praying Sebastian fell asleep like a lot of the people Kurt picked up._

_“So, why don’t…why don’t you pull over…climb back here…and get down on this?”_

_The sound that followed was Sebastian pulling down the zip to his jeans._

_“Jesus Christ, Smythe,” Kurt groaned, reaching a hand over the back of his seat and blindly smacking Sebastian on what he hoped was his arm. “Put that away. You’re as bad as you were in high school.”_

_“Nope,” Sebastian said, laughing at Kurt’s attempts to hit him. “I’m better. You should try me out.”_

_“It wouldn’t do me any good,” Kurt said, returning both his hands to the steering wheel, determined to keep his eyes on the road no matter what. “I never slept with you in high school, so I don’t know how good you were.”_

_“That’s…that’s right,” Sebastian said. “You wouldn’t sleep with me in high school.”_

_“That **is** true,” Kurt said, “but it’s not like you offered, either.”_

_Kurt didn’t know why he sounded bitter saying that. Maybe it’s because a boy who would strip naked and fuck a park bench seemed to have absolutely no interest in looking Kurt sideways. As much as Kurt hated Sebastian, that bruised his ego a bit._

_It added one more thing to the pile of ‘why everybody else and not me?’_

_“It wasn’t…” Sebastian stuttered, tripping over his tongue, “not because…”_

_Sebastian actually sounded sorry, but for the comment or for the past rejection, he couldn’t seem to decide. Kurt watched Sebastian’s eyes shift back and forth between the options in his mind and shook his head._

_“Spit it out, Smythe,” Kurt said, taking the exit that would bring them back into the city._

_“Kurt…you were… **hot** in high school…” Sebastian sputtered. Kurt saw Sebastian’s head peek up over the back of his seat and look over his shoulder. “You’re still **hot** ,” he slurred, finishing with another spattered laugh. “But you were so wrapped up with Bland…”_

_“Blaine,” Kurt corrected, a small smile touching his lips before disappearing again, “and I’m not anymore.”_

_“Oh…” Sebastian said, sounding sincerely apologetic. “That’s too…that’s too bad.”_

_“Yeah,” Kurt agreed, pulling up to the curb in front of the university where a group of guys stood waiting for them._

_“Yeah,” Sebastian repeated, his eyes staring blankly into the rearview mirror. When Kurt sneaked a peek, Sebastian caught his eyes and smiled. “So…did you want to fuck?”_

_Kurt sighed._

_“Thank you, but no,” he said, finding that it wasn’t as easy to be angry with Sebastian, seeing him behave like such a fool. “Maybe another time.”_

Saying that last part was another big mistake.

How could Kurt know that in his drunken stupor, Sebastian would remember that _one_ thing?

Not only did he remember it, he seemed to latch onto it like a lifesaver.

_“So, when you gonna let me have it?” Sebastian asked on his fifth pick-up, laughing so loud in the van that Kurt’s ears rang for an hour after._

_That was the way Sebastian greeted Kurt every time he got in the van after that first night, and Kurt was getting tired of it._

_“Well, if I was going to let you have it,” Kurt started as they pulled away from the club, “not that I’m saying I ever would, you’d have to be nice…”_

_“Pfft…I can do nice,” Sebastian said, waving his hand in front of his face and knocking himself over in the process._

_“You’d have to be sober,” Kurt continued._

_There was a pregnant pause, and then Sebastian laughed._

_“Just kidding, just kidding, I can totally do sober.”_

_Kurt felt like he was on a roll, so he barely thought before he spoke again._

_“And you would have to be someone **other** than you.”_

_There was another pause, and Kurt waited for Sebastian to spit out another laugh and make another witty comment, but he didn’t._

_Kurt looked into the rearview mirror to catch a glimpse Sebastian’s face – his jaw dropped, embarrassed shock in eyes that always had a smile in them._

_“Well, shit, Kurt,” he said, sliding down low onto the bench._

_Sebastian didn’t speak again the whole ride._

_Kurt thought for sure he had passed out, but he hadn’t. As soon as the van pulled to the curb in front of NYU and parked, Sebastian struggled to sit up, opened the door, and stepped out before his gaggle of friends could rush to help him._

_“Th-thanks for th’ ride,” he stammered, shutting the door quietly behind him, and for the first time, Kurt felt sorry for putting Sebastian down._

_But that’s what they did. Sebastian made a crude remark at Kurt, Kurt volleyed back with something bitchy, and life went on._

_Why not this time?_

Kurt thought about that conversation the entire week, which burned him up because he didn’t want to feel sorry for Sebastian. He didn’t want to feel _anything_ for Sebastian. And now he felt he had to apologize.

But that Friday night, when Sebastian came out to the curb to get into the van, he seemed to have gotten over it and gone back to being his old self…except this time, he had a friend.

_“Come on, come on,” Kurt called through the open window at the two men so completely wrapped around one another that Kurt couldn’t tell which appendage belonged to whom, “I’m only here to pick **you** up, Sebastian. I’m not here for your friend.”_

_“Awww,” both men groaned in unison._

_“But can’t my friend here come along?” Sebastian pouted the way he did whenever he teased Kurt, and lately it seemed to always make Kurt smile. “He’s lots of fun and you’re no fun at all. It’ll be like yin and yang.”_

_Kurt shuddered at how sexual Sebastian made that sound._

_“Sorry,” Kurt said, not sounding sorry at all. “Sebastian only.”_

_“Oh, alright,” Sebastian whined. He turned to the man wrapped around him. “I have to go.”_

_Sebastian’s anonymous friend from the bar attached himself to Sebastian’s mouth like a parasite. Never before had a kiss good-bye made Kurt want to retch the way this one did. Kurt spotted the nameless face-sucker pull his hand out of the front of Sebastian’s jeans and he turned away, disgusted by the crassness of it, at this man groping Sebastian outside on the sidewalk, in full view of people passing by._

_But he was more disturbed by the strange twist his stomach did when he saw it. Luckily, the twist only lasted a second._

_“Boo,” Kurt heard the other man mutter when the two finally broke for air. “Your mom’s a real drag.”_

_“Don’t be rude,” Sebastian said, pulling away from the man’s tentacle-like grasp. “He’s a…he’s a good guy. Show some respect.”_

_It surprised Kurt that Sebastian would defend him like that, but more so because he genuinely sounded annoyed._

_Kurt smiled, his cheeks growing red. Kurt had started to feel that he might be developing an affection for Sebastian - and how bad would that be, really?_

_Until Sebastian lied down in the backseat and vomited all over the floor._

_“He’s all yours, honey,” Kurt heard the face-sucker huff. He slammed the door, locking Kurt in the van with Sebastian and the stench of rank secondhand alcohol._

_“Jesus Christmas,” Kurt groaned, opening all the windows and turning on the air conditioning, leaning out the window as he pulled the van away._

_“I’m…I’m sorry about that, Kurt,” Sebastian muttered._

_“Yeah, well, you’re paying to have it cleaned up.”_

_“Whatever,” he mumbled. Kurt peeked back in the rearview to see Sebastian face down on the bench seat. He looked so pathetic - so unlike the criminal chipmunk Sebastian Smythe that Kurt once knew - that Kurt couldn’t help feeling sorry for him._

_“You know, this probably isn’t a healthy thing that you’re doing to your liver, Sebastian.”_

_Kurt heard a **pfft** from the man in the backseat, but that was all._

_“At least I saved you the embarrassment of having sex with your little friend out on the sidewalk.”_

_Kurt didn’t know why he had suddenly become so chatty. Keeping Sebastian quiet during these rides was pretty much the goal._

_He also didn’t know why he had added a derisive emphasis to the words **little friend**. What did Kurt care that Sebastian was attached tonsil deep to that troglodyte? _

_Except that Kurt missed kissing. He missed having someone to kiss, and even if he didn’t want to admit it, he always imagined Sebastian would be a good kisser._

_“Why would that have been embarrassing?” Sebastian asked, not moving from his face down position in the seat._

_“I don’t know,” Kurt said, voice thick with condescension._

_“I’d totally do it on the sidewalk,” Sebastian remarked, lifting himself to an upright position. “With you, at least, because…because you’re so pretty…”_

_“Thanks,” Kurt said, his tone dry but his heart suddenly racing. “I think.”_

_“Oh, that’s totally a compliment,” Sebastian assured him, smacking the back of Kurt’s seat as if he was patting him on the back._

_Kurt felt slightly triumphant, though he tried not to._

_“So, your little friend wasn’t pretty enough to do it on the sidewalk with?” Kurt asked, continuing the conversation only because he was uncomfortable with the tension he felt rising in the van._

_“Oh, hell no,” Sebastian said, wiping his mouth on his sleeve. “No…I mean, we fucked in the bathroom, but I wouldn’t do him in public.” Sebastian leaned forward in his seat, looking at Kurt through the rearview mirror. “But I would totally have sidewalk sex with you.”_

_“Great,” Kurt responded with a stiff, humorless smile._

_After that admission, Sebastian’s compliment (so-called) wasn’t as endearing to Kurt as it had been seconds earlier._

Kurt tried to put distance between them, establish boundaries and stomp out the affection he thought he felt building. He cut out the chitchat, going back to simply tossing barbs in response to comments that Sebastian threw at him and keeping his eyes on the road, but when he did, it didn’t make him feel better about this whole situation.

He felt lost and confused. He was still fresh from his broken engagement with Blaine. He couldn’t handle Sebastian. He couldn’t handle these feelings. The faster he could be done with this, the better. Then he could let whatever these feelings were fade away into the background of studying for his finals and trying to get Isabelle to go with his idea for this month’s top story on the _Vogue_ website – spikes and studs, the new must have embellishment.

Sebastian must have felt something change, or maybe he’s still as cruel as he’s always been.

Maybe he spoke to Carl and figured out that their time together was coming to an end, and he wanted a chance to hit Kurt below the belt once before it was all over.

Whatever his motivation, last Friday’s conversation cemented the realization that Kurt needed to get as far away from Sebastian as he could…before he put himself in danger of having his heart broken again.

_“How come you never talk about Blaine?” Sebastian asked._

_The question came out of leftfield and hit Kurt so hard that he almost slammed on the brakes in the middle of the highway._

_“Wh---what?” Kurt asked, hoping that he hadn’t heard Sebastian right._

_“You never talk about Blaine,” Sebastian said, staring at Kurt with pensive, albeit bloodshot, eyes. “How come?”_

_“Because he isn’t part of my life anymore,” Kurt answered, speaking in vague truths that he might use to explain difficult concepts to children…or drunken past-nemesis._

_“But **why** isn’t he a part of your life anymore?” Sebastian pressed, sounding surprisingly sober all of a sudden. “Why aren’t you two together anymore? Why did he break up with you? What did you do?”_

_Kurt curled his fingers around the steering wheel, gripping it hard. If he had a quarter for every time someone asked him that question…_

_“How do you know **I** didn’t break up with **him**?” Kurt asked, reading every road sign he passed in his head to keep himself steady._

_“Did you?” Sebastian asked with a raised brow – his face taking on a skeptical expression that Kurt wanted to slap off._

_“As a matter of fact, yes, I did,” Kurt said, turning his head around to face Sebastian for a second. “I felt that we were too young to get married.”_

_He returned his eyes to the road and his mind to reading the road signs._

_“Pffft, yeah, right,” Sebastian muttered, dropping his head back on the seat._

_Kurt turned back around to glare at him, but his bitch face was wasted since Sebastian stared at the ceiling and didn’t look at him._

_“You don’t think that’s a valid reason?” Kurt asked in a haughty tone._

_It had been Kurt’s go-to reason. He stood by it. He was more than willing to defend it._

_“I do,” Sebastian said, lifting his head to lock eyes with Kurt through the mirror. “I just don’t honestly think it’s **your** reason.”_

_“Well, whether you like it or not, it is,” Kurt said, speeding the van up a little, trying to get back to the city faster if this was the way the things were going to go._

_Figures that the first slightly sober conversation he could pry out of Sebastian would turn out this way._

_“So, who are you dating now?” Sebastian asked, eyes boring into Kurt’s reflection._

_“Why such an interest in my love life?” Kurt asked, checking the upcoming exit sign, then checking it again, knowing it wasn’t the one he needed but hoping all the same._

_“Just curious why you spend every Friday night driving my drunk ass home and not out on the town,” Sebastian said matter-of-factly enough to sound insulting._

_“Well, it’s none of your damn business,” Kurt said, locking eyes with Sebastian to convey how done he was with this line of questioning. “Not everyone needs to get drunk off their ass every Friday night to enjoy themselves.”_

_That seemed to shut Sebastian up, but not for long._

_“So…do you?” Sebastian asked._

_Kurt scoffed. Apparently Sebastian_ _couldn’t interpret facial cues, though more than likely he didn’t care that he was tramping over boundaries and delving into personal and off-limit topics of conversation. Of course, Kurt would be fair game for him to pick apart. They weren’t friends (were they?). Besides, Kurt had been Sebastian’s punching bag of choice in high school. Why should college change anything?_

_“Not answering,” Kurt said firmly._

_“Ah,” Sebastian replied, a smirk melting a bit of his serious expression. “That means you don’t.”_

_Kurt sighed._

_“If I give you an answer, will you shut the hell up?”_

_“Nope,” Sebastian said, his smirk growing wider, “because you already gave me the answer.”_

_Kurt clenched his teeth hard – so hard that his head throbbed._

_“Fine,” Kurt said. “You’re so fucking brilliant. You’re so Goddamned smart, going out drinking every Friday, calling me to pick your ass up when you can’t stand on your own. You don’t have any one either. But that’s okay, right? Because any hand or mouth will do, and a nightclub bathroom is about as romantic as you get. So maybe Blaine and I fizzled. Maybe he cheated, and then he lied, and then everything about us went to crap. So what? At least I can say I wasn’t stupid enough to get so desperate that I ended up in a nightclub bathroom with **you**.” _

_Kurt gasped. He had let his mouth run away on him again. He was upset, yes, but he hadn’t intended on saying all of that, especially since he didn’t really mean it. Who knew what Sebastian was going through? Maybe he had somebody in his life that broke him the way Blaine had broken Kurt. Maybe he didn’t. That didn’t give Kurt the right to judge._

_Sebastian was obnoxious and an asshat, but Kurt wasn’t really angry at him and all his uninvited questions._

_He was angry at someone else that he hadn’t had the chance to unleash on._

_Kurt swallowed hard as the words hung in the air. He peeked into the rearview and caught Sebastian’s gaze, but Sebastian didn’t look hurt the way he had before._

_He looked almost happy._

_“But I’m alright being alone,” Kurt said in a calmer tone, turning off the highway, not as relieved as he thought he’d be at seeing their exit. “I don’t need a Mr. Right Now. I’m willing to wait for Mr. Right.”_

_This time, when they pulled up outside of the NYU campus, there was no one waiting to meet them. Kurt looked up and down the street to make sure, then opened his door and hopped out of the van, rounding the van to open Sebastian’s door. He expected to have to help Sebastian out of the vehicle, but he was downright dexterous for a man who was supposedly so drunk he had to call for a ride home._

_Sebastian took a step out and then turned, crowding Kurt up against the side of the van._

_“Finding a Mr. Right Now is not always a bad thing,” Sebastian said, leaning in so he could address Kurt in a whisper. “Sometimes Mr. Right Now can turn into Mr. Right if you give him the chance. And by the way, a nightclub bathroom can be hella romantic.”_

_Sebastian pushed off the van and walked away toward the dorms, not turning back to see Kurt still stuck to the vehicle, paralyzed by those words – words that Kurt could feel seep their way into his skin, straight to his toes. Kurt took a breath to clear his head, realizing belatedly that Sebastian didn’t smell like he had a lick of alcohol on his breath._

__

But that’s not the case tonight. Kurt could smell the whiskey on Sebastian before he even got into the van. He’s drunk as a skunk and possibly high. Kurt figures it’s probably the stress of finals getting to him that made him go this far, but he never took Sebastian as a person who cracked under academic pressure. Kurt remembered him in high school juggling AP Chemistry, AP French, AP European History, and AP Calculus all in the same semester.

There has to be something else going on.

But that’s not Kurt’s problem, and that’s part of the reason why Kurt is so glad his stint with _Dial-A-Ride_ is ending.

Because more and more he _wants_ to make it his problem. He wants to talk to Sebastian about all of this. He wants to get to know him, start over, wipe the slate clean and become friends from the beginning, see if it turns into something more, but why? What has Sebastian done other than get drunk and hit on him that would make him feel this way? Maybe it’s just him missing Blaine, projecting onto Sebastian because he’s familiar, because he looks like fun, because he’s an attractive, sexual creature…because he shows an interest, and not only the inappropriate kind.

There was a moment last Friday, during that insufferable conversation, when Kurt thought he saw what might be the _real_ Sebastian, the one hiding underneath the lewd comments, the bathroom sex, and the alcohol. One that seemed to care about Kurt, even if only a little.

Kurt doesn’t think he could ever fall in love with Sebastian, but what would it hurt to give him a chance?

Kurt can’t. He doesn’t want to take the chance of getting burned. What if Sebastian is exactly what he seems – rude and self-centered and vain? What if his only interest in Kurt is seeing how far he can push him until he breaks down and sleeps with him? Then Kurt will end up another notch in Sebastian’s bedpost and he’ll move along to some other conquest.

Kurt sighs in frustration as he takes the exit that will bring them to NYU. He wishes he could just _ask_ Sebastian. If he could trust Sebastian to tell the truth, this would be so much easier. It might not change Kurt’s mind, but at least it would stop driving him crazy.

Kurt pulls up to the curb and parks the van. He can see the group of Sebastian’s friends walking at them from across campus and feels that twist in his stomach again. Sebastian will go back to his room, Kurt will return the van keys. When next Friday comes, Sebastian will call _Dial-A-Ride_ and ask for him, and they’ll tell him that Kurt no longer volunteers there.

It seems almost mean.

At least Sebastian is asleep so Kurt won’t be forced to say something close to good-bye.

Kurt hears Sebastian giggle and shakes his head in defeat.

He’s not getting away that easily.

“Psst,” Kurt hears whispered from the backseat. He chooses to ignore it. Maybe if he doesn’t say anything, Sebastian will fall back to sleep. “Psst, Charlie.” Kurt rolls his eyes. Sebastian is so fucked up he doesn’t even know that he’s still in the van. “Hey, Charlie…”

“What is it?” Kurt answers, lowering his voice a register, not sure who Charlie is but confident that his voice is probably deeper than his.

Sebastian giggles again.

“I did it,” Sebastian says. “I got him to drive me home again.” Sebastian chuckles madly, as if this is some amazingly funny prank that he came up with, has been pulling on Kurt for weeks, and Kurt realizes with a bitter taste in his mouth that it is. To Sebastian, it _is_ a prank, another way to get his kicks at Kurt’s expense, a perfect way to top off a night of drinking and smoking and doing God only knows what in the bathroom at the bar.

Sebastian is exactly what he seems; Kurt’s decision to cut all ties is the right one.

Some people will never change, and Sebastian is apparently one of those.

Maybe Kurt expected it, but he doesn’t like the feeling of being used – or the realization that he actually has nothing better to do on a Friday night than be amusing to Sebastian Smythe.

That realization stings Kurt’s tongue, tightens his throat, makes his ribs hurt. Kurt wants to hear it from Sebastian’s lips once and for all so he doesn’t find himself overthinking it late one Friday night when he’s curled up by his bedroom window with a mug of warm milk, a copy of _Vogue_ …and nothing else.

“Tell me,” Kurt says, turning and looking over at Sebastian, slowly rising like a zombie off the (thankfully unsoiled) backseat, “why do you always call _Dial-A-Ride_ and ask for me…I mean, Kurt? Why is this so funny to you?”

Sebastian’s eyes, half-lidded and crossed, don’t look at Kurt directly. Kurt wonders if Sebastian realizes he’s drunk if he doesn’t even know who he’s talking to.

Sebastian isn’t giggling anymore. Whatever the joke is, it seems to be over.

“Because,” Sebastian chuckles sadly, staring down at the stitching in the seat cover, tracing over it with his finger, “he’s a great, great guy and…and he would never give me the time of day otherwise.”

The temperature in the van drops for Kurt long before the door opens and the usual suspects clamor around to gather their friend.

“Come on, Bas,” a voice says as several hands reach in to pull him out of the vehicle. “Let’s get you back to your room and leave the nice van guy alone.”

Kurt gulps watching Sebastian go. He doesn’t lift his eyes to look at Kurt once, doesn’t acknowledge that Kurt is there, will probably have no memory of this conversation between them.

But Kurt will. He’ll think about it when he turns in his van keys and goes back to his loft with no plans to see Sebastian again.

He’ll wonder if Sebastian, in some twisted, bizarre, and despicable turn of fate, will turn out to be the one who got away.

“Hey, Kurt,” one of the guys whose name Kurt has never bothered to learn - not in all this time - says, peeking in through the passenger window and waving. “Thanks for bringing him back safe.”

“Any…any time,” Kurt stutters, watching the guys drag Sebastian away, unsteady legs turning into Jell-O beneath him every other step.

“So, will we see you next Friday?”

Kurt looks up at the friend hanging behind to shut the door, sticking around to see Kurt off after Sebastian is well away.

“Yeah,” Kurt answers, a little stunned, a little disbelieving that he’s going to keep doing this…and why. “Yeah, you will.”

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Many of you guys requested a follow up. I hope you enjoy this part as much as the first chapter <333

Kurt pulls up to the curb, parks, and cuts the engine. He fishes his cell phone out of his pocket to send the obligatory text.

_To Sebastian:_

_I have arrived…now get your ass out here._

He chuckles when he sends the message, then chuckles even harder when he gets a text back.

_To Kurt:_

_Keep your panties on, princess. I’m on my way._

Kurt used to take exception to being called _princess_ , but seeing as he occasionally calls Sebastian _horse teeth_ , he lets it slide.

Besides, it’s nice to be in the _insulting-but-fond_ nickname stage of being friends with Sebastian.

 _Being friends with Sebastian_. He honestly never thought _that_ would ever happen - not before a zombie apocalypse or the next Ice Age anyway - but at least it’s starting to sound less weird now when he says it.

Kurt hears footsteps on the pavement and raises his eyes from his screen to look out the window. He sees the man himself walking toward him, wearing a dark green polo beneath a distressed military-style leather jacket. He has his hands shoved into the front pockets of his jeans, lifting up his shirt enough so Kurt can see the way the dark wash denim shows off the shape of his trim waist and muscular legs. He has gone through the trouble of having his hair expertly coiffed (something that Kurt can definitely appreciate), highlights gleaming beneath the ambient lights. But what Kurt notices most, the thing Sebastian wears that shows the brightest, is his smile – warm, genuine, unsolicited, with no ulterior motives or underhanded strings of any kind attached.

Sebastian seems happy to see Kurt, and he’s not ashamed to show it.

Kurt wolf-whistles out the window when Sebastian approaches.

“Hot damn, Sebastian,” Kurt calls out. “Don’t you look sexy? And walking in a straight line. That’s promising.”

“Yeah, well,” Sebastian says, looking down at his shoes, shy for a second, “I can’t be too sloppy. I have a big date tonight.”

Kurt scoffs as he hops out of the driver’s seat and rounds to the passenger rear door to open it.

“Figures that you’d call to have me drive you to your _big_ date,” Kurt says, biting his lower lip to keep from saying anything else about it.

“Well, parking is non-existent in the city,” Sebastian comments, nodding at Kurt in thanks as he opens the door, “and taxis are highway robbery.”

Kurt closes the door behind Sebastian and shakes his head, hurrying back to his car seat with his arms wrapped around his chest, warding off the evening chill.

After that fateful last Friday night drop-off, Kurt returned to the _Dial-A-Ride_ office and before Carl even had his hand out for Kurt’s keys, Kurt told him that he wanted to continue on as a permanent volunteer. The words came out all at once. He couldn’t have stopped them.

His announcement came as a surprise to everyone, but mostly to himself.

Carl offered Kurt his pick of nights, but Kurt chose to keep Fridays. Carl gave Kurt a strange smile and said that if that’s what he wanted, that’s what he could have, but if he needed to change at any time, to let him know.

That was the kindest, most considerate thing Carl had ever said to Kurt, and it was entirely unprompted, so naturally Kurt was suspicious.

As it turned out, Carl was the infamous Charlie’s older brother (Charlie being the boy who had stuck around to make sure that Kurt would be returning the following Friday). Charlie also happened to be Sebastian’s roommate at NYU, and had given Sebastian the phone number for _Dial-A-Ride_ in the first place when he noticed Sebastian starting to drink more than normal.

Everything that had happened between the hand-off of that phone number and that first pick-up at _Off the Wagon_ had been a solid coincidence. But after that…well, it didn’t take too long for Kurt to realize that he had been set up.

But Kurt and Sebastian didn’t figure this out until after Kurt showed up the following Friday to meet Sebastian at _The High Life -_ Kurt’s first Friday starting anew.

***

_Sebastian spotted Kurt from the door while leaving the nightclub and frowned. He didn’t seem as drunk as usual, only swaying back and forth and maybe stumbling a step, but he was apparently in no need of a bouncer escort tonight._

_Kurt didn’t know whether that confirmed that the over-the-top drunkenness was all an act for his benefit or not._

_Sebastian hadn’t special requested Kurt this time, but Carl made sure that Kurt got the ticket._

_Kurt opened the door for Sebastian, and Sebastian regarded him oddly. He smelled like he had only had one or two beers, but he didn’t need the alcohol to bring him down. His eyes didn’t smile, his frown grew deeper, and his brows drew together in the middle._

_Kurt couldn’t tell if this sour mood was due to finals (Kurt had just finished his), or maybe he struck out big time at the nightclub…_

_…or maybe it was seeing him._

_“I talked to Carl,” Sebastian said after Kurt returned to the driver’s seat. “Your volunteer commitment ended last Friday.”_

_Kurt turned in his seat to look at the man behind him._

_“Yeah,” Kurt said, “so?”_

_“So, why are you back here?” Sebastian asked._

_Kurt stared for a moment into Sebastian’s green eyes, clouded in the dark, coming off as aloof but that didn’t fool Kurt. He detected something underneath, something that looked like fear. Kurt sighed._

_“Frankly, I came here for you.”_

_Sebastian glanced around himself sarcastically, making a show of being sure there wasn’t anyone else sitting next to him that Kurt could be referring to._

_“Why?” he asked with a shrug. “Why would you stick around for me? I heard you hated this job.”_

_“Because, I thought, maybe you and I could become friends…” Kurt felt a tiny, worried pang in his head, like maybe he had misinterpreted everything and was making a fool of himself._

_“Friends?” Sebastian asked with the start of an actual smile, one that barely tugged at the corners of his lips and stayed without his permission. “You want to be friends…with me?”_

_“Yup,” Kurt said with relief. He wasn’t wrong. Sebastian did want him…as a friend. They were going to be friends. That’s all Kurt was ready for. “But I have some rules.”_

_Sebastian nodded._

_“And they are?”_

_“You have to be nice…”_

_Sebastian raised an eyebrow at the déjà vu_ _he felt - the familiar ring of those words._

_“Ok…”_

_“You have to be sober…”_

_Sebastian paused. Kurt could see by the dip in his smile that Sebastian thought he knew where Kurt was heading, but Sebastian took a chance anyway. Maybe he needed to hear for himself that he would have to change - that he wasn’t good enough for Kurt the way he was._

_“And?” Sebastian swallowed hard, but Kurt smiled at him, in no way cruel or teasing._

_“You have to be yourself.”_

***

“So, what are we up to tonight?” Sebastian asks as Kurt slides into the driver’s seat.

“We’re up to question twelve,” Kurt tells him, “and I believe that it’s your turn to start this time.”

“Okay…” Sebastian says, rubbing his hands together but with a wary expression on his face instead of his patented devious grin. Lately, Sebastian’s sole goal has been trying to find a question that will stump or embarrass Kurt ( _First time doing it outdoors? Ever been part of a threesome? Favorite place you like to be kissed? Fantasy involving me – you know you have one…_ ). But Kurt knows which question Sebastian plans to ask tonight. At least Sebastian waited a while before asking, but Kurt knew this was coming eventually. “What exactly happened between you and Blaine?”

***

To be honest, Kurt thought that would have been Sebastian’s _first_ question when they had decided on this game of 20 Questions (one question for each of them on every ride home that Sebastian was, at least, _mostly_ sober), but it wasn’t.

To Kurt’s surprise, Sebastian’s first question was, “So, how’s your dad doing…you know, with his health issues and all?”

Kurt’s jaw had legitimately dropped to his knees, and he missed his green light.

After Sebastian explained that he hadn’t been stalking Kurt or his father all these years (he had apparently gotten the info second hand from a few Dalton mutuals who were still close to Kurt), they had a long conversation about Kurt’s father’s prostate scare, which turned into the initial horrible incident of his heart condition back when Kurt was in high school…and then a discussion about Kurt’s mom.

They sat parked at the curb in front of NYU for over an hour talking when Kurt started crying. Sebastian climbed into the front seat and put his arms around him…and Kurt let him. Kurt said he wasn’t sure why he would get so upset about it now. He hadn’t cried over his mom in years, but after everything that had gone down after he moved to New York – Finn passing away so suddenly (which Sebastian hadn’t heard about yet), his father’s health scare, and all the stuff he had slogged through with NYADA and _Vogue_ and Blaine, he had sort of forgotten that he still had that pain packed away in the back of his mind. It’s a pain he hadn’t revisited in some time, but it needed to be let out.

Kurt apologized profusely for his _unattractive_ display (he said that with a self-depreciating laugh and a cover-up smile) but Sebastian wouldn’t let him. He told Kurt to keep crying, to keep talking, that talking about it was good, remembering was good, crying was good, because that’s the way the people they loved would live on – through stories and memories…even through unattractive displays.

It was a subject Sebastian seemed to be adamant about; Kurt grew quiet when that hit him.

Sebastian told Kurt about his grandmother passing away at the beginning of the semester and how hard it had been. Sebastian and his grandmother had been insanely close. She wasn’t just his grandmother – she was his best friend, his biggest supporter. Now he had to go on, leaving behind all the rituals he had in his life that included her – the good morning texts, the weekly letters (since his grandmother had subscribed quite heavily to the lost art of letter writing), the birthday potlucks, but mostly, their Friday night phone calls.

Like Kurt’s Friday night dinners with his dad before he left Lima, those phone calls had been sacred.

On that Friday night, in the front seat of the _Dial-A-Ride_ van, Kurt and Sebastian jumped an important hurdle toward becoming friends.

They realized they weren’t so different after all.

***

“Do you really want to waste a question on this?” Kurt asks, merging on to the highway. “I mean, wouldn’t you rather know something more important, like, oh, I don’t know, my thoughts on butt plugs versus inserts? I mean, that’s some gripping conversation right there.”

Kurt laughs, and Sebastian does, too, but only politely.

“Is it that it’s uncomfortable to talk about,” Sebastian starts when the laughter comes to an awkward halt, “or is it that you don’t want to talk about it with _me_?”

Kurt looks into the rearview and sees how quickly Sebastian slips into defense mode, so certain of rejection. Kurt wondered, when he first saw it, how did Sebastian ever get the reputation for being such a cocky, self-assured ass the way he pouts at the drop of a hat, but Kurt is beginning to realize that this phenomenon might be symptomatic of their relationship only.

That this friendship they’ve developed might be important to Sebastian.

“Don’t guilt me, Sebastian,” Kurt says. “Please? It has nothing to do with not wanting to tell you specifically. It was an awful situation all around.”

Sebastian nods.

“I’m sorry, Kurt,” he says, reaching out and putting a hand on Kurt’s shoulder. “I don’t mean to be a jerk. You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.” Sebastian’s smirk returns. “That butt plug question sounds good. We can go back to that. Now, would you be talking from personal experience or…”

Kurt shakes his head and smiles, grateful that Sebastian is so willing to change topics for his sake.

“Do you really want to hear about it?” Kurt asks, cutting Sebastian off.

Sebastian meets Kurt’s gaze in the mirror.

“Yes,” he says. “I really do.”

Kurt sighs. He rolls his head on his neck, hearing some of the vertebrae - stiff from driving - crack, then checks the GPS on the dash to see how far they are from their destination.

“Well, make yourself comfortable,” Kurt says. “It’s a long story, and you’re not allowed to judge…”

***

_“Come on, Kurt,” Sebastian hiccupped, flopping down onto the van seat._

_“No,” Kurt said, disappointed. “This is only the second Friday and you’ve already fallen off the wagon.” Kurt stood up suddenly at that, smacking himself on the forehead with his palm. “Ha!” he said. “Off the Wagon…I get it!”_

_Sebastian barked out a confused laugh, squinting up at Kurt through bleary eyes._

_“I swear,” Sebastian slurred, “I only had the two beers. I think they didn’t mix well with my antihistamines, though.” Sebastian started patting down his pockets, looking for something. Kurt didn’t know why he bothered waiting, but Sebastian said, “a-ha!” and produced a silver blister packet of prescription medication._

_Kurt gave out one sharp laugh when he read the first five words written after the name, printed in all caps on the wrapper – DO NOT MIX WITH ALCOHOL._

_“Well, shit,” Kurt said, handing the pills back. “I guess you’re right. But now I think I should take you to the hospital.”_

_“Take me wherever you want, Prince Charming,” Sebastian chuckled, lying down on the backseat, “as long as you take me.”_

_“Wonderful,” Kurt said. “I’m still not sure you deserve to ask me a question for being such a dunderhead.”_

_“Oh, please,” Sebastian begged as Kurt closed the van door. He waited till Kurt got into the driver’s seat before he continued. “I’m sorry. It was an honest mistake. Do people not make those in your universe?”_

_Kurt thought about the last time someone in his life had made a mistake. He had apologized, too. It didn’t make it better._

_“Alright,” Kurt conceded, “but only because we’re probably going to spend about eight hours in the E.R. anyway.”_

_“You’re…you’re staying with me?” Sebastian asked._

_“Sure,” Kurt said, grabbing his cell and sending a quick text to Carl. “You were my last ride anyway.”_

_“Okay,” Sebastian giggled, rubbing his hands together, devious smile slapped firmly in place, “tell me about a fantasy involving me?”_

_Kurt’s eyes snapped up to glare at him with disbelief._

_“Oh, come on, Kurt,” Sebastian drawled. “You know you have one.”_

_“Well, I’ve fantasized about punching you in the neck,” Kurt replied. “Does that count?”_

_“Kuuuurt,” Sebastian whined, grabbing the edge of Kurt’s seat and shaking it. “Come on…you know what I mean…”_

_Kurt’s jaw tightened as he tried to focus less on Sebastian’s question and more on getting them to the closest hospital he could find._

_“Kurt…” Sebastian crept over the seat back and rested his head on Kurt’s shoulder. “Come on, Kurt. We’re all friends here.”_

_Kurt sighed. Could Kurt count on this turning into one of those situations that Sebastian would be too loopy to remember? Most likely not._

_“Well, I…” Kurt started, pausing to change lanes – not that he needed to, he just wanted the time to think over his answer. “I’ve got to say that…I’ve always kind of…I’ve imagined what it might be like…”_

_“Yeah?” Sebastian’s eyes grew wide as they watched Kurt’s cheeks go pink, then red, then scarlet._

_“I always wondered what it might be like to kiss you,” Kurt breathed out quickly, changing lanes again, this time by accident._

_Sebastian stared a second longer, mystified that Kurt actually gave him an honest answer._

_“Oh, yeah,” Sebastian said, dismissing it to ease the tension. “I would, too, if I were you. I’m an **awesome** kisser.”_

_“Yup,” Kurt said, not all the put off by Sebastian’s lack of modesty under the circumstances._

_“And you…” Sebastian went on. “I bet you kiss **real** good.”_

_Kurt caught sight of Sebastian’s goofy grin and laughed._

_“Yeah, well, I guess you’ll have to wait and see.”_

_The comment came out so effortlessly, Kurt didn’t think to censor it._

_Kurt’s tongue went dry and Sebastian’s face froze._

_Neither of them spoke again till they reached the hospital._

_***_

“So, he told you to go to New York, and then he cheated because you left…” Sebastian repeats, trying to keep up and sounding noticeably more annoyed than he had when Kurt started his story.

“Yup,” Kurt says.

“And then you went back to Lima, slept with him at your teacher’s almost-wedding, and then forgave him…”

“Yes,” Kurt affirms, though when Sebastian says it out in the open like that, with the emotions of the moment stripped away and the truth cut to the bone, it sounds worse than he remembers.

“And then Blaine got all of us to help him propose to you, and you said _yes_?”

Kurt winces at the edge of incredulity in Sebastian’s tone. Kurt usually has no problem defending himself against mistakes he’s made in the past, but – surprising to him – he doesn’t want this to sully his relationship with Sebastian, not now when it’s so new and full of promise.

“I said you couldn’t judge,” Kurt says instead of an affirmation.

“Oh, I’m not judging,” Sebastian says. “I’m just trying to decide which one of the two of you is the bigger idiot.”

Kurt has a response for that, but he shelves it.

Actually, he probably deserves Sebastian’s low opinion of him.

He allowed his heart to make a lot of bad decisions.

But before he can say something else, something in his defense, Sebastian blows out a long breath.

“Blaine is,” he concludes. “Without a shadow of a doubt, Blaine absolutely is the bigger idiot.”

Kurt laughs, but wryly. Kurt has let Blaine go, but he hasn’t really forgiven himself for all the wasted time and energy he put into that relationship, even when he knew it was floundering.

“And why do you think _that_?” Kurt says.

Sebastian puts his hand back on Kurt’s shoulder and gives it a squeeze.

“Because, yeah, you trusted him when you shouldn’t have, but he gave you a reason to trust him and then he betrayed that trust. He’s the bigger idiot by far.”

Kurt smiles, his eyes shifting from the road ahead to Sebastian’s reflection.

“But I’m still an idiot, right?” Kurt asks.

“Oh, definitely,” Sebastian says with another gentle squeeze. “You totally are.”

***

_They passed their time in the E.R. going through question after question, some inane and just for fun, others deeper, about their school, and life, and the future. The subject of Kurt’s relationship with Blaine seemed to be off-limits for the time being, as did Sebastian’s relationship with his grandmother – probably because both subjects were too significant to be discussed in a crowded waiting room surrounded by about three hundred other New Yorkers (though Kurt’s preference between topping and bottoming seemed to be a reasonable question). At some point, the questions petered off, because the noise level in the waiting room got too loud or because they were both too tired to think of anything else to ask. They read old magazines and Sebastian took a half-hour nap with his head resting against Kurt’s shoulder, the quiet between them relaxed and comfortable._

_It was well past six in the morning before Sebastian was seen, vitals taken, and then told he was free to go back to his dorm._

_“So, apparently drinking alcohol while taking prescription antihistamines isn’t as dire as the all caps warning made it seem,” Kurt commented._

_“If your friend didn’t have a reaction and die about four hours ago,” the exhausted E.R. nurse quipped, “then he’s golden.”_

_“We’ll remember that for next time,” Kurt said, taking over in the sarcastic comeback department while Sebastian yawned behind his hand._

_Luckily, it was a short ride to NYU from the E.R. Kurt was about dead on his feet, but he knew he could hold on a little longer. He avoided mentioning anything about feeling tired out loud on the off chance Sebastian might offer him a couch or a bed to nap on…because Kurt knew he’d jump at it, consequences be damned._

_The campus looked different in the daytime, with people bustling about. Sebastian was about to get out of the van and leave, but Kurt demanded he text Charlie for help, just to be on the safe side._

_“What, are you worried about me, princess?” Sebastian asked when Kurt opened the door for him but stood blocking his way to keep him from exiting the vehicle._

_“Not in the slightest,” Kurt said quickly. Sebastian looked at him, raising an eyebrow, and Kurt scrunched his nose in response. “Well, maybe a little. Sorry I dragged you to the E.R. for nothing.”_

_“No sweat,” Sebastian said, patting Kurt on the upper arm. “I’ll just consider it our first date.”_

_Kurt rolled his eyes but couldn’t help laughing. What a ridiculous concept. Kurt dating Sebastian Smythe. In what weird alternate dimension would that ever happen?_

_Not this one…right?_

_“So, can I ask you one last question?” Kurt asked, looking over his shoulder when he heard Charlie call out, “Hey! Kurt! Seb! What up, guys?”_

_“Didn’t you just…”_

_Kurt cut him off with a pointed look, and Sebastian put his hands up in surrender._

_“Go for it,” he said._

_Kurt bit his lower lip, looking down before he asked, but down took his eyes straight to Sebastian’s mouth, tongue swiping over dry lips as he waited for Kurt’s question. So Kurt’s eyes, framed by dark cheeks, looked back into Sebastian’s._

_“Is The High Life as much fun as it looks?” Kurt asked._

_Sebastian’s smile didn’t even wait before it made an appearance._

_“Can I answer your question with a question?”_

_“That’s cheating but sure,” Kurt said._

_“Do you want to find out?”_

_“Hey,” Charlie said, finally reaching them and clapping Kurt on the shoulder. “How did things go last night?”_

_“I had some beers after I took my meds, and I guess I got whacked out,” Sebastian explained, stepping out of the van. Kurt moved to give him room to stand, Sebastian’s question still bouncing around his brain without any idea of how he should answer._

_Did Sebastian just ask him out?_

_“Ah, so Kurt saved your ass yet again,” Charlie said, his cheery laugh hiding a different concern. “You had me worried there.”_

_“Yeah, well, apparently I had Kurt worried, too.” Sebastian winked at Kurt, still in shock._

_“Well, let’s get you up to bed before you fall over,” Charlie said, taking Sebastian’s arm and putting it around his shoulders to give him something to lean on. “You, too, Kurt. Drive safe.”_

_“Yeah,” Sebastian said, “drive safe, and call me when you have an answer to that question.”_

_Kurt nodded, raising his hand and waving as the two limped away, numbly waiting for his brain to start working again so he could come up with an answer._

***

_“Do you want to find out?”_

That question echoes in Kurt’s head as he pulls up to their destination and parks by the curb. His hands gripping the steering wheel, he looks into the rearview mirror at Sebastian. Sebastian fusses with his cuffs and his collar, then he glances out the window, scanning the crowd outside for the man that’s supposed to meet him here. His green eyes snap back suddenly and stare into Kurt’s, his expression unreadable for the most part, though Kurt can see a bit of nervousness shifting the muscles in his cheeks and worry playing at the corners of his mouth.

“So, we’re here,” Kurt reminds Sebastian, who looks slightly green. “Are you ready for this?”

Sebastian looks like he might be sick, but then his whole faces changes. His eyes go wide and his lips quirk up into the smile that Kurt remembers from high school – the one full of confidence and swagger that Kurt used to find so infuriating.

But not so much anymore.

“Yeah,” Sebastian says. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”

Kurt gets out of the driver’s side to open Sebastian’s door.

“Does this one have child safety locks, too?” Sebastian asks.

“Nah,” Kurt says. “I just thought I would do the gentlemanly thing.”

“Well, you would think the gentlemanly thing would be to let me sit in the front passenger seat,” Sebastian says, watching Kurt open the door for him.

“I will next time,” Kurt says. “I just wanted one more ride with us like this. For old times’ sake.”

Sebastian looks at Kurt as he stands, his smile softening, and leans forward to kiss him on the forehead.

“Whatever you want, babe.”

“May I take your keys, sir?” a young man behind them asks. Kurt spins around to look at him, offended by the question. Sebastian laughs as Kurt looks at the man in horror.

“Settle down, sweetheart,” Sebastian whispers. “He’s just the valet.”

The man smiles wider, his hand held out to Kurt, barely an inch from his face. Kurt looks him up and down. He’s wearing black jeans and a tie-dyed t-shirt with the words _The High Life_ printed in black letters across the chest.

He also looks seventeen

Kurt looks at his keys in his hand, the smile on his face becoming uncomfortably rigid.

“Come on, babe,” Sebastian says when Kurt’s fingers start to curl back over the keys in his palm. “Let the nice man park your SUV.”

“But…but it’s my baby,” Kurt says, gaze traveling from his keys, to his Navigator, to Sebastian, and then to the persistent young man with the baby face.

“And they’ll take good care of it, or we’ll rip them a new one, isn’t that right…uh…Scooter?” Sebastian asks, turning to the anxious man waiting for Kurt keys.

“Uh…it’s Scott,” the man says, his smile failing only a tiny bit. “And of course, sir. Your vehicle is safe with me.”

Kurt gulps loudly and turns his keys over. Sebastian walks him away from the curb before he can change his mind. They walk to an area close to the door, beneath some trees with a view of the walkway.

“Motherfucking Charlie,” Sebastian mutters, eying the people walking in ahead of them.

“Relax,” Kurt says, winding an arm through Sebastian’s arm. “We agreed on eight o’clock. We’re early. Besides…” Kurt looks up at him with a soothing smile, “if _I’m_ the one meeting _your_ friends, and I just left one of my most prized possessions in the hands of a fourteen-year-old, why are _you_ the one who looks like you’re going to vomit?”

“Because,” Sebastian says, sneaking his arm out of Kurt’s grasp in favor of wrapping his arms around Kurt’s waist, “they’ve known me longer than you have but they already know that you’re too good for me. I don’t want…you know…anything they say to scare you away.”

“You’ve already told me once that I have a _hard luck case of the gay face_ ,” Kurt says with a chuckle. “Remember that?”

Kurt had hoped to get Sebastian to laugh, but his teasing has the opposite effect. Sebastian drops his head and looks at his feet, toeing at the concrete.

“Look, the point is I’m still here,” Kurt says, leaning to the side to meet Sebastian’s eyes. “You asked me out on a date, and I said yes, so, why don’t you stop worrying?”

“Okay,” Sebastian agrees. He looks around behind them and then back at the bouncer at the door, acknowledging him with a nod. Bryce sees Kurt sheltered in Sebastian’s embrace and smiles for the first time that Kurt can remember. “Why don’t we head on inside and wait there?” Sebastian suggests. “Instead of out here in the cold?”

“Sounds like a plan,” Kurt says, “but first…”

Sebastian looks at Kurt curiously, but Kurt doesn’t wait for him to ask. His hands crawl up Sebastian’s back to his shoulders, tilting his body in as Kurt rises up an inch on his toes and presses their lips together. It starts out as an unambitious kiss – Kurt still has some issues with PDA…

…issues that melt away in an instant when Sebastian gasps into Kurt’s mouth, pulls him in closer, slips his tongue past his lips, and kisses him harder – not possessively hard, not dominantly hard (which makes it all the sweeter), but harder in that _I’ve wanted to do this for a hundred years and now I finally have my chance_ way. It’s a way that tells Kurt that yes, Sebastian has thought of this, thought of him in his arms, their mouths pressed together, has thought about tasting him, of feeling him against his body.

And damn, can Sebastian kiss.

“Wow, Kurt,” Sebastian mutters, apparently coming to the same conclusion about the man in his arms, “that…that was…ha…so, uh…are you ready to go inside?”

Sebastian innocently tries to pull away but Kurt sticks his hands beneath Sebastian’s jacket and polo, slipping them into his back pockets and holding on tight, having already weighed in his mind the benefits of waiting inside a hot, crowded nightclub against standing on the sidewalk and making out with Sebastian.

It’s not sidewalk sex, so Kurt thinks he can handle it.

“Wha---what’s this about?” Sebastian asks, happily wrapping Kurt back up in his arms and holding him close.

“Nothing,” Kurt says with a shy glance at Sebastian’s mouth, “it’s just…I think I like the idea of waiting out here for your friends a little better, and maybe doing _other_ things...”

Sebastian watches Kurt’s eyes flick down to his lips again and smiles, catching the meaning behind that tiny gesture.

“Yeah,” Sebastian says, pulling Kurt into the shadows and leaning in to kiss him again. “I have to say that I agree.”


End file.
